Return

I’m happy to be back from vacation, though I’ll confess that I’m a little whiplashed by weather. Forget jet lag (I was in England). What really hit me, returning to my two US homes, was moving from wet fall weather in the UK, into humid hot summer — with cicadas wheezing in the trees — in Washington. And then into what feels like very early fall in Warwick, NY, with the air warm in the day and cool by night, and the leaves already turning, lying red on the ground.

We were in England for three weeks, and our little Rafa, now 10 1/2 months old, made amazing use of the time. He mastered crawling up flights of stairs (under close supervision! he’ll miss a step sometimes), and, most impressively, standing up, which he’ll do with a huge grin on his face. “Look what I can do!” He’s worked out the balance fabulously well. He’ll bang his hands on whatever he’s holding on to — he can’t stand without holding on — and just started almost dancing with his feet. Can walking be far off?

Here I am with him in Barbondale, against some of the most striking scenery I’ve ever seen. It’s part of our drive to the supermarket. We never forget how lucky that makes us. But we’re far luckier to have Rafa.

I’ve got a lot planned for the blog — and the rest of my work — for this fall. Starting with my next post, in which I’ll offer a plan of action for people in classical music. If, that is, they want to give our art form a future, by reconnecting it with the world around us.

Comments

I’ve already heard and felt the crunch of leaves underfoot. Glad you like the photo! And happy fall to you, too, Brian.

Greg Sandow

Though I've been known for many years as a critic, most of my work these days involves the future of classical music -- defining classical music's problems, and finding solutions for them. Read More…

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For years we've been talking about a classical music crisis. And the crisis is very real -- ticket sales have been falling, funding has been harder to find, and the audience, over many years, has gotten older. Many people don't want to believe these … [Read More...]

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This was the first in what turned out to be a long series of posts, in which I and many readers highlighted people, groups, and institutions making new departures in classical music, doing things in new ways. This wasn't even close to a complete … [Read More...]

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